Mary Baumgarten (Mon):
Dear 2 day/week Kitah Zayin (7th Grade) Families,
I hope that you and your families enjoyed a wonderful summer and I am delighted to welcome you and your children to a new school year at Talmud Torah. I know all of you and your children and I am excited to have them in my class once again this year.
Our areas of study will be Mitzvot and American Jewish History. We will not only be studying mitzvot, but, we will also be performing mitzvot this year. I have been in contact with Sholom Home and Roitenberg Assisted Living as well as Perspectives. We will be volunteering with these organizations approximately once a month. More information to follow.
Please, let’s keep the lines of communication open. Feel free to reach out to me anytime with concerns, comments, or questions. I want to make sure that your children get the most out of their time at Talmud Torah and I will do whatever I can to achieve that goal. Your partnership is invaluable in making this happen!
Wishing you and your families a Shanah Tovah U’Metuka, a Happy and Sweet New Year.
L’hitraot,
Mary Baumgarten
Avi Baron (Wed):
I grew up in the Minneapolis Jewish Community and currently work at Macalester College in Saint Paul. I'm formally trained in network administration and spend my day job in that field. I love making Judaic information relevant to the lives of us today as modern Jews. Informal education is a passion of mine and I thoroughly enjoy teaching at the Talmud Torah of Minneapolis. This is my 12th year teaching at TT.
I've been working with Jewish youth in various roles since 2007. I've worked at Herzl Camp and at Camp TEKO for a combined 9 years in Jewish summer camps. I've worked with Adath and Beth El's youth departments and educational programs, and continue to be involved in the community. I'm good at discussion based learning, I can relate to students well. I find the odd-kids out and make them feel more comfortable. I like solving puzzles, I love being a guide to others solving puzzles and allowing them to become self-reliant in their methods. Teaching others to think critically is something I think is incredibly important for our youth to know.
Students at the Talmud Torah of Minneapolis are really excited about learning and help push me to create more and more creative lesson plans. People get excited when they learn new things or when they create their own opinions on topics. It's exciting to be there when it happens.